In a feat for herself and her alma mater, Aligarh Muslim University, Ms Yashfeen Ali’s research papers have been selected for publication at various renowned institutes including University of Cambridge, Harvard, Oxford, Stanford and John Hopkins University. She will be attending a number of international conferences this year to present her research. She has also presented papers on Media Law and Laws relating to women at Army Institute of Law and on Governance at NLU Delhi.
The Conferences where Ms Yashfeen Ali’s papers have been accepted are:
1. AIL National Seminar 2018, Army Institute of Law : Media and Cyber Laws in India and USA: A comparative study, presented on 29th September 2018; Women and Media Laws in India, presented on 29th September 2018
2. 9th International Student Conference on Governance Fraud Ethics and Social Responsibility, National Law University, New Delhi: Shari’ah Governance: A solution to Corporate Governance Problem, presenting on 24th October 2018
3. ISEFE 2018, Turkey: Role of Shariah Governance in solving shareholders problem, presenting on 3rd November 2018; Shareholders Perspective towards Shariah Governance, presenting on 3rd November 2018
4. London International Conference on Education (LICE-2018) to be held at the University of Cambridge, UK on 10th December 2018: Role of Sound Corporate Governance in solving Shareholders Problem
5. Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies (RAIS), to be held at John Hopkins University, Rockville, MD, USA: Big data analysis in Law, November 19-20, 2018.
6. Izmir International Congress on Economics and Administrative Sciences, Izmir, Turkey, to be held on 5th December 2018: Corporate Governance Practices: A comparative Study of India and Europe
7. 7th International Conference on Business, Economics, Management and Marketing, Harvard, Boston, USA to be held on 19-21st November 2018: Use of Big Data Analysis in Corporate Law
8. 8th Academic International Conference on Multi-Disciplinary Studies and Education, Oxford, UK, to be held on 21st– 23rd January 2019: Labour laws in India and UK: A Comparative Analysis
9. Venture Capital Symposium, Stanford University, to be held on 26-27 March 2019: Intersection between Corporate Law and Corporate Governance
10. SGF Conference 2019, Swiss Society for financial market research, Switzerland to be held on 5th April 2019, Intersection between Labour Law and Corporate Governance
In an interview with Mirza Wardah Beg, Student Ambassador, Eastern Book Company and SCC Online (2nd year student of BA LLB, AMU), Yashfeen spoke about her interest in academic research and writing quality research papers.
1. Please tell us something about yourself.
My name is Yashfeen Ali, I completed my BA LLB from Aligarh Muslim University. I went on to do my Masters in Law from Amity University, Noida. Since I am a social person, I like to meet new people and interact with them. I don’t want to confine my research work into one area only, that’s why I choose conferences or write papers on diversified areas of Corporate Law.
2. When did you know that research is something you want to do? Was it a sudden moment of self-discovery?
After doing my Bachelors in Law, I wanted to do something different, like in almost 90% of the cases students after doing Master in Law choose to go into judicial services or they opt for various competitive exams through which they get into civil services. I didn’t want to choose this path, I wanted to bring a change into this and wanted to spread knowledge. Because of this passion of mine I chose academics. Yes it was a self discovery, while doing my Masters in Law I realised that I am not a 9-5 person. Since I am living in the city where I was born and brought up and have taken my education from this place, this PhD program has turned to be in my comfort zone. I wanted to do something out of the box and something new. I wanted to inspire people by my achievements, no doubt there aren’t any big achievements as such but these recent ones can really inspire me as well as my colleagues and juniors to adopt ‘smart work’ policy like I did.
3. How does it feel to be selected for presentation and publication at the best Ivy League universities?
I did not expect that the papers will be accepted at almost top 3 Ivy League universities, but Alhumdulillah they did. When I received the acceptance I couldn’t believe it myself. I made it a mission that if I could get my papers accepted in these universities then surely I can make a bigger impact by doing research in a better manner in the area which I am working.
4. Do you have any advice for students who are more into academic research than oral advocacy? What are your tips for writing quality research papers?
Yes, I might have some advice for students into academic research. I myself learnt it from someone. If a student is doing research they should keep this in mind that research is not just for the sake of completing theses, but in fact you are expected to be an expert in the area you’re working on. So if I am doing research in corporate governance then what I expect from myself is that I am an expert not only in the area of corporate governance but the whole of corporate law.
The students should focus on choosing different methodologies and techniques. They should not only go ahead with those which are already been used by almost 70% of the researchers in law; for example, in my case I chose to write a paper on Big data analysis in Law, which is a completely new quantitative technique in law. (This technique is used in Management and other fields of social sciences but not in Law. For writing a quality research paper, always focus on writing on the topics which are trending. The methodology which is to be adopted should be validated by other researchers as well not just in the area in which the paper is written but this can be diversified. A thorough research should be done on just the methodology which is adopted. Try to avoid grammatical mistakes as it leaves a bad impression on the reviewer. If the study is secondary then think of it as a debate where in we have to speak for the motion and against the motion.
5. What are your future plans?
I want my research to help in solving the current issues in the corporates because of which I chose to write a paper on Shari’ah Governance, which is an old concept but hasn’t been applied in India successfully. I want to know more about Shari’ah Governance and would like to work in this area as well. I want my research to help some corporates in defining their corporate governance policies. After the completion of my research I would like to work as an academician and want to spread knowledge, as I have mentioned above as well.
